#ZIWA2018: The Nominees are Here!

by Molah Media

16 Aug 2018 at 07:51hrs | Views

The shortlisted nominees for the highly anticipated 5th Zimbabwe International Women's Awards, more popularly known as 'The ZIWAs', have been announced.

The ZIWAs were founded in 2013 to celebrate and recognise the unsung heroines in the Zimbabwean community not only in Zimbabwe but also across the globe. Winners at #ZIWA2016 included Sinikiwe Kademaunga, a young woman redefining what it means to be disabled in Zimbabwe (Courage Award), New York-based fashion designer Evelyn Lambert whose work has been featured in Vogue magazine, Dorcas Gwata the award-winning public health specialist known for her work with gangs in London (Humanitarian Award) and Melissa Mushaka, the US-based blogger and media personality (Blogger of the Year).

This year's event will now be held on 3 November 2018 in the UK and to celebrate 5 years of ZIWA excellence and collaboration, the night will follow the theme 'ZIWA: Our Legacy'.

ZIWA Founder Juliana Jonathan says 'When you look at the achievements, both personal and professional, of some of the past winners and nominees, you can see that what everyone is doing is about building something for generations to come. Look at Langa Lloyd. She was our first Entrepreneur of the Year and now 4 years later, has a make-up line that is making waves. Sakhile Khanye was nominated in the Blogger of the Year category in 2015 and now has her own magazine, Classique QnA published by another young trailblazer, Rudo Muchoko of R_m Publishers. Tanya Muzinda, the motocross racer and 2015 Sportswoman of the Year is now inspiring other girls to go into the sport. I could go on and on, but it's clear that the ZIWA community is about building legacies and collaboration, so we thought we should celebrate that this year.'

To recognise the calibre of nominees this year and in honour of the excellence of past nominees and winners, the names of the awards have also been changed.

'When we saw the kind of women that were nominated this year, we realised that the award names did not do them justice,' says Rhoda Molife, Panel Coordinator and Communications Lead. 'A name says a lot! So, we took things up a notch to match the excellence that was coming in. Even though we had to rest some categories this year it was really tough for the panel to make their final selections. And by the way, we are really honoured to have a first-class panel this year. In the end, they did it and we hope that the public are as inspired and amazed as we are by these incredible human beings.'

The categories are now open for the public vote which continues through to September 2018. Winners will be announced at the awards ceremony in November 2018 alongside winners in the following categories, selected by the panel and ZIWA committee:Courage AwardFounder's AwardLife-time Achievement AwardPanel Choice Award